Meet Julianne, Ezra and Albert. They were the team that won the AT&T Mobile App Hackathon held on Nov. 18th at Bathhouse Studios. They came together, collaborated and applied their expertise in mobile app development to plow through this hackathon and win first place for best use of IBM Watson. The whole team at TurnToTech is so proud of their hard work and victory, and feel especially proud as well because they are all TurnToTech grads!
So let’s hear more about their stories and this Hackathon. We sat down with them to get some insight on the whole experience.
TurnToTech: Tell us about this event. What was it about?
Julianne: This one was an IoT (Internet of Things) focused Mobile App Hackathon produced by the AT&T Developer Program. People from all levels and expertise team up and compete in an all-out app development competition. Backend developers, designers, entrepreneurs, students, or just anyone interested in tech are who you’ll find at events like this.
TurnToTech: Congratulations on your win. Tell us more about it!
Ezra: We won first place for Best Use of IBM Watson out of a total of 36 projects. Projects were judged on their presentation, feasibility and technical complexity.
TurnToTech: How did you get involved with the Hackathon?
Albert: I’ve been going to hackathons since 2014, I believe this is something like my 13th hackathon with about half as many wins. My friend and fellow TurnToTech Grad Ezra Erani is responsible for turning me to this particular hackathon.
TurnToTech: What benefits have you gained from this experience?
Julianne: I love hackathons! They immerse you in an energetic environment full of motivated people interested in learning and sharing ideas. Even if you don’t win you still walk away with knowledge about a new technology or an idea for a project you want to pursue.
TurnToTech: What from TurnToTech’s education enabled you to apply your knowledge and skills towards this hackathon?
Ezra: I was tasked with building the Android front-end for our submission, which was only possible due to TurnToTech. I also felt that in approaching the problem, I had a clear understanding of how to best manage and allocate time because of our internal hackathons.
Julianne: The TurnToTech curriculum teaches you the skills to teach yourself. At a hackathon, this is invaluable.
Albert: TurnToTech really solidified a lot of what I understood about technology, especially the Computer Science fundamentals.
TurnToTech: Sounds like it was a great experience for all of you. You each contributed to the success of the team to win first place! Thank you for sharing with us and we look forward to hearing more about what you’re up to in the future!
